Peace Monuments in Italy,
Greece & the Vatican City
Right click image to enlarge.
1440-1445 - The Battle of San Romano, A set of three paintings by the Florentine painter Paolo Uccello [1397-1475] depicting events that took place at the Battle of San Romano in 1432. Much admired in the 15th century. They are now divided between three collections, the National Gallery, London (England), the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence (Italy), and the Musée du Louvre, Paris (France).
July 30, 1929 - Statue of Romulus & Remus, City Hall, Rome, Georgia (USA). "On a base of white marble from Tate, Georgia, with a brass plaque inscribed: 'This statue of the Capitoline Wolf, as a forecast of prosperity and glory, has been sent from Ancient Rome to New Rome during the consulship of Benito Mussolini in the year 1929." In 1940, anti-Italian sentiment due to World War II became so strong that the Rome city commission moved the statue into storage to prevent vandalism and replaced it with an American flag. In 1952, the statue was restored to its former location in front of City Hall." Info courtesy of George & Renate Stone.
1951 - "Arts of Peace" Equestrian Statues, Arlington Memorial Bridge, Washington, DC (USA). By American sculptor James Earle Fraser [1876-1953]. "Music & Harvest" (left) is a winged Pegasus between a male figure with a bundle of wheat & a sickle & a woman with a harp. "Aspiration & Literature" (right) is another Pegasus flanked by figures holding a book & a bow. The guilded bronze statues are approximately 17 feet tall atop granite pedestals. They were commissioned in l925 & their designs approved in 1933, but the statues were not erected until after WW-II when they were cast & gilded by Italy as a gift to the USA.
T
R
A
I
L
1979 - "Dove of Peace," General Assembly Lobby, United Nations, New York, New York (USA). Reproduction of a mosaic in the Constantinian Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican City. Presented by Pope John Paul II. Entry #749 in the "Peace Movement Directory" by James Richard Bennett (2001).
A
R
EN
A
1987 - Monument for the Nagasaki Flame of Commitment, near the Hypocenter, Nagasaki Peace Park, Nagasaki (Japan). "Burns to symbolize the pledge that Nagasaki shall remain the last city on Earth to experience nuclear devastation, that nuclear war shall never again be waged, and that there shall be no more bomb victims." "The small flame was sent from Olympian city [sic] in Greece to Nagasaki in 1983. It is said that in ancient Greece all warring parties stopped fighting while the flame was burning during the Olympic Games. Thus, the Olympian Flame is also a symbol of peace. In the evening on every August 8 Peace Lanterns are lit from this flame."
